Health: Smoke Free

Anyone who wants to see the health benefits of municipal smoke-free ordinances need look no further than Pueblo, Colo. After much political back-and-forth, the city banned smoking in restaurants, offices and other indoor spaces in the summer of 2003 and started seeing results within months. In the year and a half before the ban, the city recorded 399 heart attacks; in the 18 months after the change, there were 108 fewer heart attacks. That 27% decrease alone, according to a study presented last week at the annual American Heart Association meeting, resulted in a savings of $1 million to $2 million in direct...

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